Ok... went on spring break, and came home expecting to get to drive my car to Easter dinner on Sunday, but she wouldn't fire. She would turn over... and over... and over... but she wouldn't fire up at all... so I gave up til yesterday, when I had my little brother help me push her onto the flat part in the driveway. I checked the spark plugs, spark plug wires, battery connections, etc. etc. etc... all the belts looked fine and everything. My brother watches enough car TV shows, and he suggested when I am trying to crank it, to pump the gas. Even though it's fuel injected, it actually worked!! It started up, and it sounded like a car that had the FLU!! Gallons of pure white smoke poured out of the exhaust pipes, and smelled like raw gasoline, but I am not sure if that's all that it was. The idle was really shaky and sick sounding... and her belts began to whistle and get really high pitched... and the belt that goes beside the alternator started slowing down and began to smoke and give off the ever-so-lovely burning rubber smell. I turned the car off, cuz I didn't want her to burst into flames... or a belt to snap and hit my brother or me... and I just scowled at the car in anger. *grrr* Anyway, it was raining yesterday, so I couldnt get a chance to look at it again with my dad... but I thought it might be the fuel filter, the alternator, or it was just flooded... but I have a bad feeling that the P.O.S. has a blown Apex seal... and the people who owned it before I bought it lied about the mileage... even though my rotary-intelligent friends agree that it's a relatively new engine... just by looking at it.

What do y'all think? Please help. I'm pretty aggravated at the moment... cuz this is my daily, and I don't have a car for school or work now, until it's fixed. The tranny has been grinding lately, anyway... but I just got a new freakin clutch in her last fall, cuz that went on me. Hmmm... let's see what ELSE can go wrong in this bad apple. Yellow cars ARE lemons!! *growl*

 

Ekk sorry to hear that, well

check the alternator and make sure it spins freely first, and that white smoke MAY be a blown coolant seal, check your coolant levels and see if it gets lower and lower. check the plugs to see if there is water on them to confirm the water seal is gone. and i dunno what to really tell ya. buy another one? i know theres a couple S5s for sale on banks and fanny brown. im checkin on them to day wanna know the status?

ask bert and those guys too

 

Damn, I'm sorry to hear about this. I had a blown coolant seal, but the engine never locked up. I suppose if you were running with absolutely no coolant when you cranked the engine could have started to sieze that fast. The clouds of white smoke are indicative of a blown coolant seal. Could have been lots of condensation I suppose.

Anyhow, have you gotten any further with this?

 

**BEAMS** daddy fixed my alternator last night while I was at work, to surprise me... everything is better now. WOOO.

 

The white smoke was probably from the flooding. When I first got my 7, it had sat for 2 years. When I finally started it up, it fogged up my block for like 5 minutes. Never had any problems with it since (that was 2 years ago).

 

Yeah, rotaries flood like hell. Holding the pedal down while cranking works because doing so temporarily cuts fuel injection. Specifically, holding the pedal all the way down to the floor while starting; as soon as the pedal comes up, FI resumes as normal.

When FI is cut while cranking, no more fuel goes in, and the fuel already in the chambers is cycled out into the exhaust. This is why, when you finally get it started, tons of gasoline vapor pours out of the exhaust. If your car has a catalytic converter, this vapor can shorten its life considerably.

Further, when you flood the engine, the plugs get fouled (drenched in gas), and they won't spark until they dry off some. Cycling the engine in that manner does gradually dry them, as gasoline is very volatile (evaporates easily), but it's not always that easy.

You sometimes have to actually take out the leading plugs and dry/clean them by hand. If it's heavily flooded, while the plugs are out, remove the EGI fuse (very important!) and crank the engine with the gas pedal to the floor for 10 seconds or so, until the white vapor stops rising from the engine bay. Then replace the plugs, put the EGI fuse back in, and attempt to start it normally.

Sucks, doesn't it?

 

sounds like the car is just flooded
shouldnt be anything major
check if u are losing any coolant / oil if u decided to drive it around